1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a location system for a radio communication terminal, and more particularly, to a location search auxiliary system to locate a lost or misplaced cellular radio telephone and a method for using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cellular radio telephone, such as a handheld radio telephone or a smart telephone, is compact and therefore easily lost or misplaced as a result of its compactness. If the cellular radio telephone is missing, a user may dial his telephone number to help locate it, by listening for the ring tone. However, if the cellular radio telephone""s battery is substantially discharged, or removed, it will not respond to a call from the user. Furthermore, if the cellular radio telephone""s incoming call alert tone has been set to a mute mode, that is, vibration or lamp indication only, calling the telephone will not help to locate it.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a location search auxiliary system to easily locate a cellular radio telephone which is lost or misplaced.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a location search auxiliary system used in a cellular radio telephone includes: an auxiliary battery; a search signal receiver supplied by power from the auxiliary battery, for waiting until a search signal is received, and generating an alarm signal upon receiving the search signal; a power fail detector for detecting a power fail state when a main battery voltage drops below a prescribed level, said voltage being provided by a main battery which supplies an operating power to the cellular radio telephone; a first switch connected between the auxiliary battery and the search signal receiver and switched ON when the power fail state is detected, thereby supplying the power of the auxiliary battery to the search signal receiver; an emergency power supply for generating emergency power from the power of the auxiliary battery when it is connected to the auxiliary battery; a second switch connected between the output terminal of the first switch and the emergency power supply and switched ON by the alarm signal; a voice processor connected to the emergency power supply and to a speaker and operated when the emergency power is supplied, where the operating power of the main battery is not supplied; and a controller connected to the emergency power supply and operated when the emergency power is supplied, where the operating power of the main battery is not supplied, thereby generating an audible notification by driving the speaker via the voice processor in response to the alarm signal, where the audible notification is an alarm tone or a voice message indicating the telephone is lost or misplaced.